The key to the future lies in the past
by The Gidgeman
Summary: Terra's past remains a mystery but Robin believes that it may hold the secrets needed to cure her. Little do the Titan's know that there's no need to catch up to her past as it's about to catch up to them. Chapter 11 is finished
1. Questins

Thanks to Randomgirl14 for spotting that particularly embarrassing mistake in the first relese of his chapter.

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It was a particularly fine day in Jump City. The weather was fine and most of the town was checking out the newly built movie studio so the streets weren't too crowded. More specifically all the good shops that would usually be packed on weekends weren't too crowded. This was particularly convenient for the thirteen year old girl who was checking out the town for the first time. Between her fair skin, shoulder length blond hair, sparkling blue eyes, petite yet perfectly sculpted figure and her care free attitude she usually had a tone of boys hitting on her wherever she went. Not that she minded this as she liked toying with them though it was particularly inconvenient when trying to check out a new town.

Angela immerged from the clothes shop feeling particularly pleased with herself sporting her new look of black Nike basketball boots, loose fitting urban camo ¾ cargo pants, a matching tank top and a pair of black fingerless gloves. Her head turned when she herd the engine note of a highly tuned motor bike engine to see a red bike driven by a boy wearing something that looked like something out of a circus act. The bike pulled up at the lights and the rider had a look around. He glanced around while waiting for the lights to change. It was only when he glanced at Angela that she realized who the rider was. A smile came to her face, it had been the first time she'd been checked out by a super hero. The lights changed and Robin took off down the hill towards a near by cave. This got Angela's curiosity going. "Now what would a superhero be doing in some little cave like that" she thought aloud. After a couple seconds hesitation she proceeded down the hill to check things out.

Robin flicked on his headlights and set them to high beam as he slowly ride threw the cave. His thoughts however were still back with that girl he was checking out by the lights. "She was damn hot. Looked too young for me though she'd be ideal for Beast Boy if she didn't look so much like Terra" Lately he and Cybourg had been trying to find a girl for their green friend to keep his mind off Terra though they hadn't had any luck yet. When Beast boy was concentrating on something he was alright though when he had nothing to do he got back to beating himself up over the whole mess. All of the titans hated to see beast boy in this state though particularly Robin who felt responsible on three counts. Firstly, he was Beast Boy's team leader and as such bore the responsibility of making sure he was alright, both physically and mentally. Secondly, he hadn't been able to stop Slade, he should have been able to take him down long ago but couldn't. The third reason was the one that hurt host of all. If he hasn't been so damn trackless about telling Terra she needed more training she wouldn't have ran off, there'd be six titans and Beast Boy would probably be on a date with her instead of crying his heart out in some dingy cave over the remains of his lover.

Robin reached the point where he had to dismount. As soon as his engine note died with the ignition, the all too familiar sound of Beast Boy's sobs found Robin's ears. As he approached, Robyn could have sworn he herd a second set of footsteps behind him though when he turned around there was nobody there. Robin resigned himself that being a super hero must be making him paranoid and continued towards his green friend trying to think of some new way to console him. Nothing had worked so far, though the rest of the Titans were far from ready to give up.

Beast Boy didn't even react to Robin's presence until well after he felt the green gloved hand on his left shoulder.

"What's up?"

"Just checking up on a couple of good friends."

"Oh"

"When my parents were murdered, I took it pretty hard…"

"I appreciate what you're trying to do but.."

"I was beating myself up for weeks until a wise old butler talked some sense into me."

"Look, I…"

"Firstly he told me not to blame my self for what 'he' Did."

"I'm tired of all these…"

"Secondly! He pointed out that the last thing my parents would have wanted when they were gone was for me to be sad, especially when I thought of them. So if you're gonna mope about the whole thing, do it some place else. Come here only to remember the good times. Think of it as a sneak preview of when we bring her back. She fell in love with the happy care free joker that was Beast Boy, not the pitiful depressed shadow of him that you'll become. And she'll need him to help her get over this whole mess. So toughen up for her sake. That's an order."

Beast boy wiped the tears from his eyes. Robin had a point. How could he let Terra down like this!

"Thanks man."

A smile came to Robin's face.

"What are friends for? Now that you've cheered up a bit I'll tell you the new development I made this mourning."

"What? What have you got?"

"It doesn't give us any answers but it's something that might just make us start asking the right questions."

"Spit it out already!"

"The reason we haven't been able to find anything on her before we met her is that someone's been covering her tracks."

"What!"

"It's been done by a pro. I found out accidentally when I was chasing up something else on the FBI's database. The record hadn't been deleted properly due to a hard drive malfunction and I was able to recover part of the data. Nothing meaningful except that she was possibly sighted in Nevada some time last year"

"And this all means what?"

"She has a past. We find the one who's been burying it, we find some answers."

"So where do we start looking?"

"I'm not sure yet. Some old friends are looking into it for me. I also sent them copies of Cybourg's memories involving her, they might pick something up that we missed."

The two Titans' conversation was cut short by a pair of blinking communicators

Robin instinctively flicked his open. To see Cybourg's face on the tiny LCD screen

"Report"

"You know those guys who flattened the Titans East? Got some intel that they might be in town. Bumblebee checked out the hotel they were staying in and found out that one of them had been talking with a director about an audition at that new film studio down town. They've also tipped the Military Police"

"Why the Military Police?"

"They're the ones who want them. Some Colonel's been chasing them for a while."

"Beast Boy and I are near by. we'll do some poking around and call you if anything turns up"

"I'll send you everything we've got on them"

"Much appreciated, Robin out."

Robin flicked the communicator shut and headed towards his bike, Beast Boy was on his tail.

"Want a ride?"

"Dude, you've never offered me a ride"

"First time for everything. Besides, I figured you could use some cheering up. You up for it"

"40,000 ft and climbing"

Robin smirked and threw him the helmet. The two climbed on. Robin started the bike lifted the revs and popped the clutch. The rear wheel spun for a few seconds kicking up dirt, dust and rocks while producing white smoke from the tire. The rear wheel gained traction, catapulting the bike away.

Between the darkness and not bothering to check the rear view mirrors, neither of the two titans noticed that some of the dirt and dust has stayed seemingly in mid air to form the outline of a person. A very angry person for at that. Angela shook off the dust as well as the substance coating her rendering her virtually invisible. It was bad enough that they were racing off to hunt her friends but driving like a maniac and showering her with debris was just un-necessary. She reached into her pocket removing a radio.

"Cain is for Charlie"

A male voice replied.

"Delta is for Cain"

"You've got MPs and 2 Teen Titans headed your way."

"Rodger that. Thanks for the heads up"

Though she'd managed to warn her friends, Angela was still disappointed that she hadn't found any secret lairs. All that remained was to check out that statue further down the cave and try to find out who this 'she' was that they'd been talking about. Ashley froze on the spot when she recognized the statue. The resemblance was incredible. The statue looked like a taller, older version of Angela with longer hair.

"TERRA!"

Ashley's eyes investigated every detail of the statue. Pausing on the expression of fear and sorrow of Tera's face and the S symbols. Finally Angela's eyes fell upon the brass plaque. She read it aloud.

"Terra. A Teen Titan and A True Friend"

"What happened to you?"


	2. Now You Tell Me!

Thanks for the kind reviews. Special Thanks to Randomgirl14 for picking me up on that mistake. It's been fixed everywhere (hopefully)

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Terms and Abbreviations

Caucasian:Politically correct way of calling someone white

MP:Military Police

Civvies:Civilians, innocent people

Weapons Free:Order to shoot anything that moves

The A Team:1980s TV show staring George Peppard and Mr. T

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After the ride to the studio, Beast Boy was back to a slightly stunned version his normal self. This was owing to Robin's driving, always staying within an inch of speeding ticket territory. The green teen fell over after dismounting the bike.

"Dude, how do you fight after a ride like that?"

Robin grinned and extended his arm to help up Beast Boy

"It's easier when you're the driver. You still get the adrenaline rush but you don't get dizzy. It sort of warms me up so I can launch into the fight at 100 percent right from the get go."

Beast Boy removed the helmet and handed it to Robin who hung it on

"So, who are we looking for?"

Robin flipped out his communicator bringing up a series of mug shots. The Caucasian boy looked about nineteen. His short to medium length dark brown curly hair looked like it had once had a crew cut which had been left to grow out. His eyes were hidden by a pair of hinges Oakley M Frame tactical sunglasses with red lenses. It was the facial expression that frightened Robin. The facial expression was ruthlessly focused yet fatigued, not unlike a lot of war veterans' fresh back from brutal conflicts, still trying to come to terms with the things they'd seen and done. Add that to almost all of his crimes being classified and the whole thing read like a Robert Ludlum novel. The little voice inside Robin's head that had kept him alive over the years was continuously muttering about something not being right. Robin agreed.

"This guy's name is Jonathan Web. Most of his crimes are classified though he's got a few firearms offences, assaults, plenty of destruction to property and a kidnapping on the unclassified crimes. According to Speedy and Aqualad, he's tall, thin and well muscled, about Cybourg's height, probably a little shorter."

"So this is the guy who beat up Aqualad, broke his nose and left with the girl he was trying to chat up?"

"Actually no, that was his 'sidekick'. This is the guy is the one who threw Speedy out a second story window into the river. Web didn't take kindly to Speedy pulling a bow on his pall. I'll show you the sidekick."

Robin pressed a button and the mug shot changed to an infinitely friendlier one. The boy on screen looked substantially younger. He was also Caucasian though lacked the rough edge of his comrade. The neatly yet stylishly combed dark hair, soft green eyes and a big friendly grin showing a perfect set of teeth all screamed chick magnet.

"A big guy with a face like that'll get the girl every time"

A smile lit Robin's face. Beast Boy was going to like his next revelation.

"Actually he's not big at all, that was Aqualad trying to save some dignity. He's about your size and build, a little smaller"

Beast Boy broke into hysterical laughter

"Dude this guy's got style, pity we've to nail him, but to make up for it I'm never gonna let Aqualad live it down once I bag this guy."

Ordinarily Robin would have given Beast Boy a lecture about not getting too cocky though he couldn't help but smile. It wouldn't hurt to occasionally remind the Titans East who the originals were. He also much preferred the arrogant jackass that Beast Boy had been when he joined the team to the one they'd had for the last six months since Terra… Back to the mission!

"This guy's name is Andrew Hurst, 15 year old son of the late Professor James Hurst, a top grade scientist. The kid is a mechanical genius. Two years back, Web kidnapped him and probably murdered his father at the same time though that's never been confirmed. They've been working together as mercenaries ever since. Sounds like a classic case of…"

"Stockholm syndrome. The kidnapping victim becomes attached to the kidnapper"

Robin just stood there with his mouth wide open. It took a few second for Beast Boy to say anything.

"What, I learnt it from a James Bond movie, '_The World is Not Enough'_"

"Where was I?"

"You were talking about the kid having Stockholm syndrome."

"Thanks. Now they've also been sighted with a girl once or twice, it may be nothing though she could be working with them. We don't have a picture though she looks about 13, blond hair, blue eyes petite figure"

"She sounds like…"

"We don't know when where or even if these guys are going to show up at the studio. For all we know they've already been and gone. What we're here to do is ask around, see if anyone's seen or herd anything. We might get lucky and find a clue or something."

Robin mentally breathed a sigh of relief. The conversation came too close to Terra for comfort. After making so much progress with Beast Boy he didn't like the idea of going back to square one. Robin was surprised how much Terra's 'predicament' was affecting him day to day. '_And to me she was just a friend_' he thought to him self '_how would I feel if it was Star?_' Robin visibly shuddered at the thought. He forced himself to think of the case.

After about an hour of searching, the two titans were heading back to Robin's bike when three Military Police cars pulled up. This was more than enough to get their attention. Four uniformed officers stepped out of each car, each brandishing a standard issue M16 A4. Robin guessed that they wouldn't come in such numbers packing this much firepower unless they thought they would need it. His theory was confirmed when they all racked the charging rods. The two titans decided it was worth listening to what the CO and his deputy were arguing about

"…though you've go to admire their sense of humor Colonel"

"What do you find funny about Web using my name to act in movies!"

"You're right sir, there's nothing funny about that at all."

In his panicked state, the junior officer didn't notice that he'd just knocked over a bearded old man. Robin helped the old man to his feet.

"Are you alright?"

"Thanks kid, I'm alright. Those Damn MP's knocked my groceries all over the place. Why even back in Nam they cared more about minor things we did than the rest of the war."

Robin helped the man pick up the last few potatoes before continuing to follow the MPs. After Robin walked off, the old man removed a pair of sunglasses from his bag of groceries and put them on. Oakley M Frame tactical sunglasses with red lenses.

The MPs gathered outside the entrance of the set to Wicked Scary 3. The Colonel in charge kicked down the door and the MPs Filed in.

"Military Police! Everybody Freeze! Hurst? Where's Web?"

James Hurst was wearing a pair of dark blue denim jeans, black Nike runners and a stylish black leather jacket. He was leaning on a special effects control panel.

"Um, nice to see you again Colonel Fry. He's not around. Can I take a message?"

"Do you think this is some kind of game? You're in real trouble"

"He left one for you."

"He left me a message?"

"Your mother wears combat boots."

"That's it! Grab the little…"

With that Hurst flicked a switch causing a ton of smoke to engulf the MPs and Titans. Hurst's next move was to run for his life.

The two Titans only took a couple seconds to recover as they were used to dealing with such tricks and proceeded to give chase. Web darted down an ally between two indoor sets.

"Head him off!"

Beast Boy obediently changed directions morphing into a tiger darting off at amazing speed. As Robin turned the corner to follow Hurst down the ally, a volley of gunshots whizzed overhead. The Boy Wonder instinctively dived behind the nearest piece of solid cover. A smile lit Hurst's face who then turned to continue running. He did this just in time to see a green tiger mid leap coming at him before being knocked flying in a graceful arc. Hurst hit the ground with Beast Boy still in tiger form landing on his chest and the handgun falling to the ground well out of reach. Beast Boy gave a fearsome growl.

"Nice kitty"

Robin picked up the handgun and examined it. A Colt Special Combat Government .38 Super. This was a precision instrument for competition use. The .38 Super round provides high velocity and accuracy but is impractical for combat use as it cuts strait threw most targets rather than staying inside the body to inflict maximum internal damage. For combat use, one would have bought its brother chambered for the .45 ACP round.

"You Ok?"

Beast Boy had reverted to human form to ask the question thought still kept a firm grip on his captive.

"I'm fine. He never intended to shoot me."

"How can you tell?"

"Look at the bullet holes. They're well over my head."

"You sure he wasn't just a bad shot?"

"Yeah. Look how tight the shot grouping is. Not to mention that he's using a competition gun chambered for competition rounds."

"Don't thank me or anything" Grunted Hurst "Just because I was considerate enough not to waste you because I was thinking of the civvies you guys look out for. While I'm at it, I don't suppose you'd conceder letting me go by any chance?"

Twelve rifle barrels were now trained on his face.

"Can't blame a guy for trying"

Colonel Fry roughly hauled Hurst to his feet when the radio on his belt crackled to life

"Hi Fry. You just got upstaged by a couple teenagers. That happens to you a lot doesn't it?"

An incensed Colonel Fry grabbed the radio off his belt.

"Web! How did you get this frequency?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Jones should watch where he's going. It's not nice to knock over little old men."

A scared MP grasped at his belt franticly to find no radio.

"Make that SERGANT Jones!"

"Sound's fare considering you'll be a private when I'm finished with you. Corporal if you're lucky"

"SHOW YOURSELF!"

The enraged Colonel gripped Hurst so hard that the boy winced.

"Easy on the kid OR ELSE."

This was the first hint of malice from Web

"OR ELSE WHAT!"

"That's the trouble with you, you're hard to threaten. I can't threaten to blow your brains out because you clearly have none. I can't credibly threaten to blow off your manhood as even I can't hit anything SO SMALL."

"ENOUGH GAMES! COME OUT NOW!"

"Ready or not, here I come."

A flash bang grenade soared threw the air in a graceful arc, detonating about a foot above the group. The brilliant white flash and deafening bang (bet you didn't see that one coming) dazed the group. Allowing Web, dressed entirely in black save for the red lenses of his Oakley's, a brown leather shoulder holster and the polished and blued Desert Eagle within, to safely close the distance between the end of the ally and the group. As Robin began to recover from the flash bang's effects, the first thing he felt was the base of said Desert Eagle hitting him in the face while Hurst's Colt was being twisted out of his hand. By the time the MPs and two Titans where in a position to give chase, Web and Hurst were out of the ally.

"Weapons Free! Weapons Free! The one who gets em keeps his rank!"

Web and Hurst climbed into a black Pontiac GTO. Were it not for the quad exhaust pipes, black OZ Racing wide 17" magnesium alloy rims and an idle exhaust note that sounded like a small nuclear detonation an observer would have sworn that the car was stock. The interior was a different story. A partial role cage had been installed to mount the four point racing harnesses and stop the raw power of the upgraded engine from ripping the car to pieces without sacrificing head room for the rear passengers. The standard red leather seats, steering wheel and sound system remained but the shifter had been replaced with a racing style raised short shifter greatly reducing the distance between the shifter and the wheel

Web shifted into first, gave it a touch of gas before releasing the clutch then opened the black beast right up. The small nuclear detonation turned into a deep apocalyptic roar as the black beast catapulted away at frightening speeds.

The MPs cut loose with the M16A4s but couldn't hope to hit anything moving that fast. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for the thousands of dollars worth of film sets and equipment that the GTO sped past.

Beast Boy knew that even in cheetah form there was no way he could hold a candle to a V8 monster, so instead he dashed back with Robin to his bike hoping to get going in time to give chase. They both jumped on the bike and Robin fired the ignition though the engine wouldn't start. He opened the throttle right out but still no result. He glanced round at the MPs who had now returned to their cars and were having the same problem. It was only then that Robin noticed the fake beard lying across his speedo and tacho. That 'Old Man's' beard. Robin kicked himself, he'd helped Web pick up the potatoes that he'd jammed down the exhaust pipes. The disheartened Boy Wonder flicked open his communicator.

"Cybourg, we need a lift."

Bu now the GTO had slowed to legal speeds and blended in with traffic. There were plenty of GTOs around jump city and it wasn't uncommon for them to have aftermarket rims and exhausts so it would only be a matter of changing the plates next time they stopped and they were home free. The driver and passenger knew this and were laughing their heads off. It was the second time they'd tangled with a Teen Titans team and the second time they'd absolutely humiliated them. Not to mention the MPs but ditching them was a relaxed game of golf by comparison. It'd be even easier were ti not for the fact that Web and Hurst had their habit of never making an escape without seeing the look on Fry's face.

"I love it when a plan comes together"

Hurst broke into hysterics at the comment.

"You're missing the cigar, Hanable"

"You know, maybe we should start calling ourselves The A Team. It's not as if there aren't similarities between our methods and the show. Not to mention the way we deal with MPs"

"Yeah but we don't have a walking jewelry store or a lunatic pilot on the team. It just wouldn't be right."

The two broke into more laughter until Angela's voice came threw on the radio in the glove box.

"Cain is for Charlie"

Hurst removed the radio and flicked it to VOX

"Delta is for Cain." Responded Web "What's up?"

"What ever you do, DON'T humiliate the titans like you usually do"

Their expressions changed as they simultaneously mimed the same swearword

Hurst managed to muster the courage to respond

"Why's that?"

"Because I found Terra and she's… she's had another incident though more severe than ever before and they were involved. We'll need their co-operation to work out exactly what happened. Meet me in the cave near the south side. You've got to see this for yourself."

Web shook his head.

"Rodger that. Delta out"

Hurst switched off the radio

"She's gong to kill us, you know that don't you?"

"Yep, we're dead."

Trigger happy MPs and a couple angry super heroes were easy enough for Web and Hurst, but there was no escaping Angela when she was in a bad mood. However the two friends weren't as worried about the impending angry lecture they were in for as much as they usually would be. They were both wondering what happened to their old friend and what sort of 'incident' she'd had.

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So what do you guys think? This is my first fic so any feedback no matter how brutally honest it may be is appreciated. If my writing style or the new characters I've developed.

If anybody missed the discreet homage to The Bourne Identity (and the rest of the Bourne trilogy for that matter) in the first chapter it's about to jump out and bite you in this one. That is if you've read the books, the movies are less obvious.

Exams are gonna take a chunk out of my schedule for the next two weeks so the next chapter might take a while.


	3. Why?

**In case anybody read the last chapter before I updated it, Hurst is 15. Also roben launches into fights at 100 percent (the percent sign doesn't show on uploaded documents for some reason) not 100.**

Ok guys, here's Chapter 3. As always, questions, comments, criticism or anything else is welcome via way of review.

To any fellow Australians out there, I take it that you approve of the choice of car (for the non rev head Aussies, the Pontiac GTO is an exported left hand drive Holden Monaro prepared by HSV with an Pontiac nose) If you're in the Ford or Mitsubishi camp, seek counseling. There is hope for you yet.

Enough of me waffling on, let's get down to business

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Glossary of Terms

Mag(s):Short for magazines, clips

'Uncle Sam':US Armed Forces/Government

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There was something about Web that Robin couldn't place. He was somehow different to the photo. It was the same person but not. The photo was a few years old but physically speaking Web hadn't changed much at all. It was a subtle change in the expression that made them seem like two completely different people. In the flesh, Web seemed very focused and direct though he lacked the ruthless aura that the photo radiated. In the photo Web's face also looked troubled like he had a massive burden on his shoulders. However in the flesh he seemed relaxed, as if he'd put what ever it was behind him. What probably made web look so different with just change of expression was how

Web seemed playful, not unlike Beast Boy or Cybourg when they were pulling one of their more 'elaborate' pranks. The big difference was that this involved flash bangs, high quality competition grade firearms and one very powerful sports car. Cybourg and Beast Boy rarely resorted to using anything more potent than paint and motor oil. Robin's thoughts drifted back to the time Cybourg put paint in Beast Boy's shampoo and turned him brown for two days. Robin smirked at the thought for a half second then winced at the pain emanating from bruise on his face which was shaped like the base of a magazine for a Desert Eagle.

"Here, let me fix that."

A pale hand reached out covering the bruise; glowed black for a couple seconds then poked the section of skin to be sure that the bruise was completely healed.

"Thanks Raven"

"Any time. You look disturbed, anything you want to talk about?"

"This mourning wasn't particularly tough or dangerous, it was just weird."

"How so?"

"These guys are supposed to be ruthless criminals, Web's even wanted for murder. But his sidekick, Hurst, deliberately fired well over my head when he had a clean shot. And Web, he's just something else…"

"Why is that?"

"He played the whole thing one big prank."

"Let's hope Beast Boy and Cybourg don't get any ideas."

"It would have been so much easier for him if he'd just started blasting with that cannon of his. He probably could've fired off a couple mags worth and cut us all to pieces before we knew what hit us. Instead he charges in and hits me in the face with it. Hurst even told us that they didn't want to hurt us though I wouldn't have thought that'd extend to the MPs"

"Each person is the way they are for a reason. The same is also true of their actions. To understand a person and their actions one needs to understand where they came from and what they've been threw. We know very little about these people and they apparently come form uncommon circumstances. After we see them again a few times and we find out about more them you'll understand them better. This is what will bring you closer to catching them. It's all a matter of patience. Anything worth doing is worth taking a long time to do."

She had a point, as always.

"Thanks again"

"What are friends for?"

That was the good thing about having a friend like Raven. You could discuss absolutely anything with her and expect a calm and objective response without repercussions. This came in handy when there was something that had you worked up, she'd come up with something profound that would just let you think clearly enough to get back on track and deal with whatever problem you were faced with. For personal problems she never gave you the answer, merely pointed you in the right direction so you could discover it for yourself. In many ways,

Cybourg and Beast Boy were good friends and great company though they lacked Raven's wisdom and understanding. For instance, Cybourg had been laughing the whole ride back to the tower about the circumstances of Robin and Beast Boy's defeat earlier. However their specialist expertise on anything high tech and any animal respectively often proved useful.

Starfire was great company and great to talk with though more and more these days Robin found himself getting distracted, getting so wrapped up in the conversation and Starfire. Not that this was a bad thing, far from it, Robin loved his long chats with Starfire. Often they were just what he needed to remind Robin to let go when a case got too personal.

Web now had his hand on Angela's shoulder, trying to comfort her while she fought back a fresh wave of tears. He wore a tan trench coat over his black attire to conceal his shoulder holster. As the pair trudged down the path to their friend's current resting place, both were taking it badly but Web wasn't showing it.

"It doesn't make sense! The others had a couple incidents where their skin started to get rocky when they pushed too hard but never anything anywhere near as bad as this. And it NEVER happened to Terra. And why's she covered in these 'S' logos?"

"We're definitely missing something here." His voice calm and even, as if trying to figure out the identity of the culprit half way threw a detective movie. "The logos sound like they belong to Slade. He's that terrorist that we've been hearing about for a while who popes up now and then, has a solid go at the Titans, then disappears. If Terra was working with him why are the Titans mourning her?"

"But how do we cure her?" Shouted Angela, obviously not caring about anything else.

"Didn't they have a serum back at the facility?"

"Bt that had to be injected, Terra's definitely got no flesh left. More importantly, that stuff KILLED some of the others. It could kill Terra"

"Let's take a look at her, we may learn something."

Web had already accepted that Terra was quite possibly dead and there was nothing they could do for her but he didn't have the heart to tell Angela. He knew that he probably wouldn't even be able to bring himself to tell Hurst for that matter.

"_I'm no stranger to death._" thought Web "_I've killed many more people than I care to remember for 'Uncle Sam' and I've even seen quite a few good friends, family and my girlfriend murdered well before their time. So why does the idea of Terra's death bother me so much more than the rest? Is it just because it's been so long that I've forgotten how bad the rest felt? No, they still haunt me to this day. Terra was an innocent, fun loving teenager that everybody at the facility loved. Her antics made everybody laugh. To me, the troops, the scientists, the older kids and even the officers she was the cute little sister we all looked out for. To the younger kids, she was the cool older sister they all looked up to. After my time in the Middle East she played an instrumental part in me re discovering my humanity. She helped show me the joys of life. What did she do to disserve this? _"

His train of though was interrupted by Angela tapping him on the shoulder and pointed at Terra's rocky form. Web gritted his teeth, the sight was plainly disturbing him.The first thing that drew his eye was the look of sheer terror and sorrow fixed in her eyes. The sight caused Web to wince. Then his eyes moved on to her raised arms and hair.

"_She went out fighting. She clearly knew what she was doing. She was there when it happened to some of the other sand knew it might happen to her if she pushed too hard. Then why did she do whatever she was doing?_"

The scent of the bouquet at Terra's feet reached his nostrils.

"_Those roses are fresh, they can't have been bought more than six hours ago. They're expensive ones two. Whatever she did, someone's real grateful. There were some old rose petals on the ground further back, whoever left these must have taken away a set of old ones. Looks like she left an impression on the green fuzz-ball, possibly the bird brain as well._"

Web's eyes paused for a few seconds on the un natural pattern her hair was in.

"_She has something on her head. What is it?_"

Conceding that he couldn't examine the objects concealed by her hair, Web proceeded to examine her clothing.

"_That's definitely a 'Slade' symbol. That gives no answers, merely more questions. Then there's this disk shaped chest plate. I've seen something like it before…_"

A few more footsteps brought web's face to within a foot of the ridged girl before him. He carefully examined the chest plate carefully for a few seconds.

"IT CAN'T BE"

Web looked like he'd seen a ghost. He took two steps backwards.

"What is it? What can't be?"

What scared Angela was the fact that Web was quite visibly scared. As long as she'd known him, web had been as tough as nails. No matter how bad things looked, he kept his head and dealt with seemingly impossible situations where death seemed certain and got out, usually without a scratch. As to the source of this fear, Angela was blissfully unaware.

It took a few seconds for Web's shaky hand to reach for the radio on his belt. He brought the radio up to his face and held it there for a few seconds, still unable to hold it steady.

"Kid, get in here." His voice full of fear.

"On my way, almost…"

"NOW!"

Angela just stared at Web wondering what was going on. It only took Hurst a few seconds to charge threw the cave and reach his comrades. His Colt was drawn and leveled. He figured if something spooked Web, it had to be bad.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know." Replied Angela "He just freaked out."

The ordinarily soft click of the safety switch echoed threw the cave before Hurst returned the gun to the holster under his jacket.

"Easy pall. Would you mind not scaring me like that?"

Web finally spoke

"Is she wearing what I think she's wearing?"

"Huh?"

Hurst walked over to Web, stood next to him and examined Terra for a few seconds.

"NO!"

The same whide eyed scared ex

This was the last straw for Angela.

"OK. One of you is going to tell me what's making you two freak out about this! RIGHT NOW!"

"It's a neural interface suit." Came Hurst's subdued reply

"Yes but what is it?"

"Mass produced evil."

"You're not making any sense"

Web's state gradually progressed from fear to blood curdling rage.

"It turns the wearer into a human puppet" His right arm was now shaking, buckling the plastic casing of the radio. His voice was nothing short of frightening. "It's thanks to these damn things that they hit the facility!"

It was bad enough that someone could be a prisoner in their own mind, unable to do anything other than watch and silently scream as you saw and heard yourself say and do the most terrible things. What truly sickened them all was the realization that someone would do this to Terra, the innocent fun loving girl who was one of their only surviving friends. But most of all, this sickened Web.

"_I spilt an ocean of blood to protect the free world from tyranny! Then I threw EVERYTHING away to see these things wiped from the face of the earth and THIS happens. Of all the people in this world, WHY DID IT HAVE TO HAPPEN TO YOU? I swear, Terra, someone WILL PAY FOR THIS!_"


	4. Here We Go

Thanks for the kind reviews (please keep em coming) and the message of support for my exams. I think I passed though if the fic suddenly gets ridiculously dark you'll know otherwise (not that it won't have its dark bits).

This chapter might be a little dull though it's necessary to set up some of the good stuff I've got coming up. As compensation I've got a decent action sequence in the next chapter for you.

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Terms and Abbreviations:

SD6:Short for HK MP5SD6, a version of the MP5 9mm sub machinegun with an integral silencer and telescopic but stock. Its whisper quiet firing make it a favorite among hostage rescue teams and counter terrorist units around the world.

Laser Microphone:Long range microphone that works by shining a laser on a surface, such as a window and measuring the vibrations.

GM:General Motors. The group that owns Pontiac, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Opel, Vauxhal, Holden, Saab and Hummer among many others.

Nations Cup Monaro: A n enduro race specific version of the Holden Monaro (sold in US as Pontiac GTO with a different grill), only 4 were built, this beast toppled Ferraris and Lamborghinis before they were all electronically neutered as nobody would race against them though even then they put up a tremendous fight

S.N.A.F.U:Situation Normal All F---ed Up

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The early morning cool breeze gently blew the clean forest air over Hurst's face. He closed his eyes, slowly inhaled, held his breath for a couple seconds then exhaled. Marvelous. He stood next to the black Pontiac GTO parked in the 'driveway' of wooden cabin. Hurst had to hand it to his older comrade, hiring a little known hunting lodge a few miles out of town was a brilliant idea. They were unlikely to be searched and the sound of gunfire wouldn't attract any attention should anyone here it.

Hurst was still clad in his usual attire opened the black sports car's boot revealing a small armory. He removed Web's Desert Eagle, a second magazine and a large paper target before closing the boot. He pegged the target up on the washing line and took a poison about fifteen feet (five meters) away. The boy took up a shooting position, exhaled, held his breath and fired. The defending roar of the hand cannon broke the calm of the forest. The all that could be herd was a mass of wildlife getting as far away form the gunshot as possible. A second equally defining gunshot momentarily drowned out the noise created by the retreating wildlife. Hurst waited for a couple seconds till the sound of retreating wildlife had completely died down before firing off a three round burst. The sound of angry footsteps against a wooden floor told Hurst that he'd woken Angela. The cabin door flew open revealing the very tired girl clad in pink pajamas who looked ready to kill.

"What the hell are you doing with that cannon?"

"Web asked me to do some custom work on the trigger mechanism. I'm just assessing its current state."

Web fired another three round burst, emptying the magazine and causing the slide to lock back.

"But why do you have to do it this early in the mourning? And how can I hang up the washing without getting shot"

Hurst almost dropped the gun

"It's eight AM and you've never hung up any washing in your life!"

"But I might some day!"

This caused Hurst to double over laughing until Angela's beautify aimed slipper flew threw the air and bounced off his head.

"Ouch!"

"It serves you bloody well right for waking me up at un-natural hours of the mourning and laughing at me"

"Un natural? Its 0830 most people have been up for hours. Anyway I had to do something to keep me occupied rather than going back to sleep."

"Why were you awake earlier?"

"I had to drop Web at the airport."

"You mean to tell me that you left me ALONE! What if some burglar decided to rob the place? Or worse?"

The feeling of impending doom caused Hurst to instinctively reloaded the gun, not that it would be any use as he'd never even consider firing on Angela, but these instincts that Web had drummed into the boy had saved his life on a few occasions so Hurst figured that he'd better listen to them.

"The place looked disserted, no car no signs of life. Who'd trek out to the middle of nowhere to rob some low rent hunting lodge? And it's not as if you didn't have your SD6 under the bed which would be enough to deal with any burglar."

"But what if THEY showed up?"

The fear was clearly present in her voice. Web picked up the slipper, handed it to Angela and put his arm around her. He did a commendable job of masking his own fear that 'they' might return

"We've talked about this already. Web and I hunted them down and made them pay for what they did back at the facility. If any of them still alive they're in hiding. The ledged surrounding Web had them all running scared. And besides, you're the only family we've got left, we'd never do anything that would put you at risk. If they ever did come back they won't live long enough to even get close to you. We'll make sure of it."

"But if they're not coming back, where did that Suit come from? And how did Terra wind up in it?"

"I don't know. Web's half way to Virginia by now. When he gets back, he'll have some answers for us. He'll even throw Fry and anyone else looking for us off our trail while he's there to buy us some time to work on Terra's predicament."

"But what can we do about that without Web?"

"On the way to the airport this mourning we devised a plan. We know there is a cure out there; we just have no way of administering it. You head inside and get dressed while I make us some breakfast and I'll tell you all about it"

After some thought on Robin's lecture, Beast Boy decided to turn Terra's cave into a shrine. He'd spent a few hours framing every photo and newspaper clipping he could find. After picking up some brass polish and some flowers the green teen journeyed to the cave. Unlike his previous trips, where sadness seemed to radiate from him, this time Beast Boy was more confused than anything else. It wasn't because eh was an idiot As his knowledge was sourced almost exclusively from TV and video games, Beast Boy found that it was easier to just let the others do the thinking, but in this case he wanted to be able to help Terra so badly that he was giving it everything he had.

"_So someone's knows about Terra's past and wants to cover it up. Whoever this is did a god job of hiding it by… by doing whatever Robin said they did. Why does someone want to hide her past? Ok, this sounds like a conspiracy, there's a lot of those in The X Files so let's look to that. What did Terra do that somebody doesn't want known? She shot JFK! No, she couldn't have… he was shot by a guy. What about aliens? They're involved in all the really good conspiracies. Could she have something to do with Area 51? That's it! Robin said that sighting was in Nevada and everyone knows that Area 51 is in the Nevada desert! I'm such an idiot! All this thinking is getting nowhere and making my head hurt!_"

He was so occupied in his attempt at rational thought that he failed to notice that he was being watched. To his credit, this was being done very professionally, however were he not so preoccupied, even in his human form he might have recognized at least one of the three familiar scents.

None of those familiar scents belonged to Hurst, this was owing to the fact that he was one step ahead and already waiting for Beast Boy in a well concealed position with a clear view of the entrance to Terra's cave. Of course this piece of knowledge has cost both Him and Web a few hours with a spotting scope and a laser microphone. There was no need to risk bugging Titans Tower as the heavy use of glass in its design. However Hurst was stiff as anything after lying in the awkward position required to get a clean view of his side of the tower without being spotted. This time he was making up for it. The fifteen year old wore a pair of navy blue slacks, a graphite colored shirt with the collar undone and a pair of hi powered binoculars hanging from his neck. His black leather jacket was resting beside him on the passenger seat covering his pistol. Hurst had resolved not to leave the comfort of the GTO's red leather seats and climate control air-conditioning.

Hurst was particularly proud of the GTO. A few months ago it was just a stock 2006 model, which isn't exactly a slug. But Hurst had extensively worked on it turning it into an absolute beast. It also didn't hurt rescuing a GM executive's daughter from a bunch of armatures holding her to ransom. In addition to their standard fee, 10 of the ransom, the guy threw in a Chevrolet LS7 427 cubic inch V8 (a slight fraction over 7.0 litres), not that the stock LS2 V8 isn't somewhat of a monster in it's own right but it's bigger brother's torque curve is something that many rev heads would kill for, and that's BEFORE Hurst re built it and added the PWR supercharger, intercooler and performance radiator. All this power was channeled to the rear wheels threw a Hollinger six speed racing gear box to get as much of this power to the road as possible. The massive AP Racing breaks made light work of stopping this beast. When it came to griping and cornering, custom suspension system copied off the Nations Cup Monaro, OZ Racing 18" magnesium alloy racing wheels and the intermediate Dunlop Control Tires out the GTO on a league that rivaled many purpose built race cars. For the business end of things ceramic amour plating was added around the boot and fuel tank. Not only did this give the GTO superb weight distribution but even though few people could hit something moving that fast, Web and Hurst didn't like the idea of a stray round getting to the ammo and creating a decent sized crater. The final touch was the electronic launch control system to reliably and consistently give the car the perfect take off every time. Apart from being very handy when it came to getaways, it crowned the GTO the supreme lord of traffic light grand prix.

A smile lit Hurst's face as a black and purple clad, green headed figure approached the mouth of the cave.

"That's right fuzz-ball, you just head right on in there."

Beast Boy entered the cave as if he'd herd the instructions. Hurst Grinned. Usually when Web said something was going to be a piece of cake that usually meant that they, Hurst in particular, were in for some S.N.A.F.U. though for once it looked like Web was right. That was until about 30 seconds later when the three people who were following Beast Boy regrouped near the mouth of the cave. Although Hurst had never seen them before, he didn't need the binoculars to tell they were trouble.

"I said just head on into the cave! I definitely DID NOT tell you to get your green butt followed!"

Hurst brought the binoculars to bear with his left hand while reaching for the Colt with his right. Following his natural instincts, Hurst started checking out the apparent leader of the group. He decided that the leader must be to be the slim, well shaped female member of the group. After 'diligently observing' her for a good twenty seconds, it occurred to Hurst that the bizarre clothing and hairdo color were probably bad signs.

Hurst's binoculars veered to the left focusing on the short, bald kid clad in green. Physically he didn't look like much of a threat though the electronic goggles on his head looked military grade and the backpack appeared to have some grenades strapped to the side.

The real worry was the big guy. The guy was definitely serious trouble and whilst Hurst was quite accomplished at hand to hand combat, as Aqualad had found out the hard way, he didn't like his chances against somebody that big. Fortunately, Web and Hurst happened to have a tried and true solution for serious trouble: Surprise and firepower.

Hurst got out of the car, stuffed his Colt into the back of his pants and went to the boot. He couldn't help grinning as he removed the accessorized Barrett M468 carbine from the boot and extended the telescopic stock. It had a forward assault grip on the under barrel accessory rail and an ITL MARS reflexive sight on the top. Hurst pulled back the cocking handle to examine the chamber while marveling at the rifle's smooth action prior to releasing the cocking handle. Next he removed two 28 round magazines strapped together and inserted the end of one into the magazine well. As a precaution he grabbed another two similarly taped magazines and stuck them in his right pocket. He doubted he's need all 100 rounds (you always leave three rounds out of the magazine so the springs don't wear out) but it couldn't hurt to bring extra. At least it couldn't hurt Hurst. Ordinarily he'd have been thrilled at the chance to cut loose with his favorite rifle but Angela's presents in the potential combat zone scared him to death. He also would have been thinking about ways to avoid killing the aggressors but Hurst would gun them down without a second thought if it meant less risk to Angela. He knew that Web would do the same thing. The boy racked the cocking handle then slammed the forward bolt assist with the heel of his palm.

"Hang on Angela, I'm coming."


	5. Spelunking Hazards

Yes I am still alive and so is the fic. This chapter just took me ages to get right. Sorry for the delay. Tell me what you think.

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**Glossary**

"Stitch em up":Military slang for shooting someone with a fully auto weapon. The term comes from the typical recoil of fully automatic weapons causing each round to land higher than the one before it.

Carbine:Short Rifle

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The green Teen Titan walked down the all too familiar path that led to Terra. This time was different to the previous times he'd walked the path. Unlike the other times he's trudged that path, Beast Boy had not resigned himself to grief, this time he fought it. Robin's words the previous day had struck home. Beast Boy knew that the last thing Terra would have wanted was for him to be sad. So for her, Beast Boy fought off the sorrow with everything he had. He felt so useless. He wanted to help her but he didn't know what to do. All he could do at the moment was hold on to the good times and prey for a miracle. Little did the changeling know as he was setting the framed photos down at Terra's feet that the next best thing was standing behind him.

"What happened to her?"

The voice was familiar to the point of being spooky. Many would have sworn that it was Terra's voice; however Beast Boy's particularly sensitive ears easily detected the slightly higher pitch. The similarity was still more than enough to send a chill down his spine. When Beast Boy turned he rapidly discovered that the similarity didn't end at the voice. She could have been Terra's identical twin save for the obvious age difference.

"Who are you? How do you know Terra?"

"My name is Angela. Terra's my sister."

"So do you have same powers?"

"No I can…"

A clunk echoed down the tunnel shortly followed by a profanity screamed by Mammoth.

"Hide"

"But.."

"Just hide."

Angela obediently scampered behind Terra's pedestal. Being an avid fan of the Teen Titans she was overjoyed at the prospect of seeing one in action. That was until she remembered that the Teen Titans were famous for their spectacular battles and the consequent collateral damage. Terra's presence in her defenseless form brought a chill to Angela's spine.

Mammoth's specialty was violence and brute strength. Ironically his physical prowess proved to be the complete opposite to his intellect. Consequently, when it came to stealth, this along with his lack of finesse and patience as well as his sheer size made the behemoth almost completely useless. A fact that was now getting under the skin of his team leader

"Quiet!" came Jinx's harsh whisper "Beast Boy must have heard that."

"Quit wining ya kludge head." Gismo's ever present, unique vocabulary coming threw loud and clear along with the passionate defense of his comrade's actions. "We've got him trapped anyway. The skuz bucket's got to go threw us to get out."

Gismo had a point and they had a mission. Rather than compromise it further by fighting amongst themselves, Jinx decided to simply chew him out afterwards. They may have lost the element of surprise though they still had superior numbers. Considering that they were almost a match for the Titans when outnumbered, the H.I.V.E. team knew that one lone Titan should be no problem.

Beast Boy was trapped and he knew it. Thinking wasn't his one of his strengths, less so when under pressure. He couldn't turn into something fast or small to get past them and Leave Angela behind, he shuddered to think what they'd do to her of they caught her. His communicator was his best option.

"Guys! Help! I'm under attack at Terra's Cave!"

"They can't here you, snot for brains. That piece of crud's no match for my radio jammer"

"Tell me," Ordered Jinx "Who were you talking to before you called for help?"

"Nobody!" The green teen's words ripe with fear "I was just… talking to myself."

The obscurely clad sorceress' face was lit with an evil smile. She and her team members had decided in advance that, rather than simply giving Beast Boy the most savage beating of his miserable life, they would attack him psychologically and hurt him far worse than any physical injury could. Then they'd give him the most savage beating of his miserable life. From the H.I.V.E. team's point of view they couldn't get a more fun assignment except for possibly doing the same thing to Cybourg.

"Sounds more like you were talking to that dead girlfriend of yours."

Despite his silence, Beast Boy's anger couldn't have been more evident had he screamed it at them.

Not wanting to miss the perfect moment, Gismo took advantage of his adversary's silence.

"Figures. The only girl that'd go near this crud munched is made of stone."

"Yeah" continued Jinx, loving every moment of it "But even when she was alive she must have been a real sl…"

The sorceress was cut short when a tin of brass polish struck her in the face. Beast Boy stood dumbstruck. He'd brought the polish to buff Terra's plaque but he hadn't thrown it. What also perplexed Beast Boy was the look of fear on the faces of Jinx's subordinates. Ordinarily they'd both be sniggering at their comrade's misfortune.

"We're going to make you wish you never… HOLEY MOLEY!"

Like her team mates had moments before, Jinx noticed the semi transparent figure standing next to Terra's statue. The figure's striking resemblance to Terra's statue and semi transparent state brought the three H.I.V.E. members to one conclusion: GHOST!

"Um, did I miss something?"

The loan Teen Titan was still blissfully unaware of the ghostly figure behind him.

"Leave them all to me."

Angela's menacing figure strode past Beast Boy

"Yes Mam!"

For a half second, Beast Boy had even believed that Angela might be Terra's ghost though he knew Terra's features better than anyone and could easily tell the difference. That aside, he didn't feel that it would be in his best interests to argue with her. Angela's voice held so much anger it was frightening. That and she was transparent.

The H.I.V.E. team watched in fear as the ghostly figure approached. After a few seconds, Jinx snapped out of it and threw a purple hex across the floor. Angela simply disappeared before it got to her. Jinx breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was easy."

"Yes it was."

Jinx tried to scream as the un-naturally cold invisible hand gripped her throat but all that came out was a weak moan. Gismo drew his custom build laser pistol with his right hand. He lowered and began franticly clicking his goggles threw different vision modes with his left hand, desperately trying to acquire a target. Angela saw this and threw Jinx into her compact comrade. Even Mammoth's useless brain, which made Beast Boy look like a genius, was able to deduce that he was next and he's better do something. That something happened to be wildly swatting the air around him with his huge arms and hoping to get lucky. It only took a well timed, gentle push in the pack to send the juggernaut toppling onto his two fallen comrades.

"You're like bread on a windowsill. Mine when I want you."

Mammoth rolled off his two team mates. He was more or less unharmed and mad though Jinx and Gismo weren't in any real condition to fight.

"Retreat!" croaked Jinx, her throat still sore.

The H.I.V.E. team ran for their lives. To be more accurate, Mammoth ran for his life while Jinx and Gismo sort of limped for their lives.

Outside the cave, Hurst lay prone behind a bush. Getting close without being seen had proven to be difficult and time consuming as he was carrying a nice conspicuous fully automatic weapon. He'd somehow managed to suppress his urge to charge in shooting and do the logical thing instead. In this case it involved a one man ambush. After Discovering Terra, he and his collogues combed the cave looking for clues as to her situation and consequently knew that there was only one exit. Hurst knew that Angela was quite capable of making herself scarce but was far more likely to do something stupid. As for Beast Boy, they needed him to be alive and well. Hurst was far more concerned about Angela, even though he knew the three were after Beast Boy and that he'd expressly instructed Angela to stay hidden should anything happen. He also knew, having found out the hard way, that Beast Boy wasn't exactly useless. Not that it made Hurst feel any easier.

_As they exit the cave they should walk right past my position putting me behind them. That'll be the time to strike. If they've got any brains between them, they'll probably want the fuzz ball alive as a hostage for when his team mates inevitably come after them. A couple bursts over their heads should be enough to convince them to take off. Failing that I use the flash bang grenade to stun them and buy me some time to advance. If Angela's with them I'm just going to stitch em up. They touch her they die. Angela, please just stick to the back up plan and don't do anything stupid._

Hurst herd rushed footsteps echoing from the cave. His right thumb flicked the safety/select-fire switch of his M468 carbine to the Auto setting; the two stage trigger would still allow him to fire single shots. His left thumb softly resting on the grip switch for the ITL MARS sight's built in laser pointer as his left hand tightly gripped the forward assault grip.

_The fuzz ball's probably making a run for it. Maybe he's smarter than he looks._

As the H.I.V.E. team ran past Hurst's bush, he rose to a crouching position and brought his carbine to bear on the retreating group in one swift motion

_What the? The fuzz ball can't be that good can he?_

Hurst heard two pears of approaching footsteps and franticly hit the dirt.

"Do you really think I should join the Titans?"

Enthusiastically asked the sweat drenched, hyperventilating Angela. Despite clearly being physically drained, her behavior didn't show it. The Teen Titans were her heroes. She'd never expected to meat one, let alone get invited to join.

"Sure. You took care of those guys like they were nothing. They usually give us heaps of trouble. After you were finished with them, at least one of them needed a change of underwear."

"I don't know. I really want to find out what happened to my sister."

Beast Boy sighed. He wasn't particularly anxious to re live the painful memories in the detail Angela would be after.

"It's a long story. Come back to the tower and we'll tell you everything."

"Ok. Can we get a cold drink on the way?"

"Sure, my treat. You've earned it."

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	6. Hunting the Truth

Hi again. After dealing with that Writer's Block that slowed up my last chapter so much I've got a new one for you that I think you'll like.

You'll have noticed that the early parts of the fic focused far more on the original characters and barely mentioned the Titans. I did this to set things up correctly. From now on you can expect to see (well read) a lot more of the Titans

Devout A Team followers will have noticed I borrowed a line from the show in the last chapter.

One more thing, if anyone's getting a little concerned about the detail with the guns, don't worry about it I'm not a psychopath I just do my research before writing a chapter to ensure it's authentic. You can find out just about anything using Google, it's great.

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**Glossary:**

'took a round': Got shot

Tali: Slang for Taliban soldier.

US Army Rangers: Entry to mid level US Special Forces. Though within the US army they are held in very high regard, the international Special Forces community in general regards them as a bunch of un-professional trigger happy cowboys.

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Information is like a gun. A good gun is a useful tool and a powerful weapon that can save your life. A bad gun is a liability. It may be too inaccurate to be of any use or it can fail on you either directly killing you by blowing up on your face or jamming in the middle of a firefight and reducing your ability to fight back. If miss handled, even a good gun will maim or kill the wrong person and quite possibly destroy something valuable. The trick is not only to ensure that you're wielding the good gun but also to arrange that your enemies have got the bad ones. These are the truths that Jonathan Web embraced which had saved his life on many occasions. This was also the reason he was standing in a back ally in Langley, Virginia with his hair dyed blond and slicked back, a set of contact lenses to give him green eyes and, most importantly, holding a gun to the back of a senior CIA intelligence analyst's head.

To be more precise, the reason he was holding a gun to the back of a senior CIA intelligence analyst's head. The same gun he'd just acquired from the shoulder holster of said senior CIA intelligence analyst after pulling him down the ally.

The analyst wasn't particularly worried. This wasn't the first time such a thing had happened to him. Over many years as an under cover operative prior to taking a desk job he'd learnt a few tricks for such situations. He deduced that the man holding the gun to his head wasn't planning to kill him, at least not yet, otherwise the attacker would have done so already. The attacker clearly had a purpose and had been careful not to show their face when they took him down. This was a promising sign as there would be no reason to do so had the attacker intended to kill him anyway.

"You know who I am?" the analyst managed

"Stupid question Mr Williams, I knew outside which coffee shop to grab you and I also knew that you've been left handed and consequently worn a left handed shoulder holster since you took a round from an AK 47 in Afghanistan. You slipped up, you stubbed your toe and swore in English which blew your cover."

Now the analyst was shaking with fear. It took a pro to gain such knowledge.

"How do you know all that?"

Web grinned

"The tali who shot you was bragging about it. Right up until I blew his foot off. It made him only too happy to tell me where they were keeping you. Then those trigger happy cowboys that are the US Army Rangers were meant to just sneak us both out but one of them got jumpy and started shooting early landing them in a heavy firefight when they were supposed to be extracting us. So I had to charge in, shoot the guards and hold the building till the Rangers just about leveled the town around us."

Williams thought back to those traumatic memories. He remembered hearing gunfire start up outside and seeing the two guards freaking out, trying to work out whether to shoot their prisoner so the Americans wouldn't get him back. Then this scrawny kid that looked about sixteen with an AK 47, which was not an uncommon sight in Afghanistan, charged in and killed both guards with a single shot to the head. Williams could have sworn the kid was an Arab until he shouted in fluent English with a clear American accent 'what the hell do those trigger happy morons think they're doing?' The voice of those memories was a mildly higher pitched version of the one now speaking to him.

"What do you want?"

"I need a favor and I figured you owe me one. I just need the file on a terrorist, a hard copy that can't be traced back to you or the CIA. Once I'm done with this guy he won't be anyone's problem."

Williams breathed a sigh of relief.

"You know you didn't need the gun. You could've just asked."

Web suppressed a laugh.

"Appearances are everything. You of all people should know that having found out the hard way. You don't know my real name and you've only seen my old face but I'm not in a position to use official channels to get the information. You're an ex field agent, you know how it works."

_No need to tell him why I'm not in a position to use official channels_ Thought Web _Him knowing I'm wanted would make him less likely to help. Besides even if I made something up it'd only make him suspicious_

"Who's the un-lucky guy?"

"Slade."

Back in Jump City, Beast Boy felt terrible. Angela adored her older sister and Beast Boy knew the story of Terra's betrayal would be hard on her. He also knew that the rest of the team would not take it so well. Trust aside, for them it meant opening old wounds. In Beast Boy's case the wound was still open so it wasn't that much of a stretch. Angela reminded him so much of Terra, were she a little older they could pass for identical twins. It wasn't just the looks but also her mannerisms and habits. Even her voice was quite similar. Consequently Beast Boy had taken a shine to her. He also learnt that Angela, like her sister, idolized the Titans. All this made him feel so cruel. Not only would she learn the awful truth but she'd learn it from her idols, who just happened to be the one that messed things up very badly. At the same time he'd be bringing back painful memories for the rest of his friends.

During Terra's time with the Titans, Robin had prevented the media from getting any details of her so the attention wouldn't go to her head. When she betrayed them, none of the titans could bring themselves to give any statements to the media. They didn't give the police any details as they wanted to handle it personally, all still silently hoping that she wasn't beyond being helped. Upon learning of Angela's existence, Beast Boy was more grateful for this than ever. The news paper was no way for Angela to find out. At least she'd be learning the truth from first hand witnesses.

In an attempt to put off the inevitable, Beast Boy bought Angela lunch along with the cold drink she needed. This proved to be quite an expensive exercise as Angela shared Terra's monumental appetite. Beast Boy didn't care about the money, he even refused Angela's offer to pay for her share, though he was still baffled as to how such a small girl could eat so much. Angela was busy devouring the mountains of food and Beast Boy was busy being shocked about how she could possibly eat so much, so there was minimal conversation.

It took all of Robin's self control to stop him punching the computer screen. The Boy Wonder had just received the most frustrating email of his life. He hated asking anyone for help, particularly Batman. He left Gotham to escape from the shadow of his teacher and become independent. Terra's situation and its crushing effect on Beast Boy was one of the very few cases where Robin was prepared to swallow his pride. On all previous occasions, Batman and Alfred had found some seemingly irrelevant detail which was exactly what Robin needed to crack the case. This was the first time they'd failed to find anything at all. They agreed with all of Robin's theories but that was it.

_There's got to be something I've missed, some key that'll unlock the door this mystery and produce some answers._

Beast Boy strode in the door of the team room with Angela close behind. The astonished girl was still taking in the tower's extraordinary architecture. Angela caught Robin's curiosity, she struck Robin as early familiar though he couldn't quite place it. Finally she spoke.

"Wow, Terra actually lived here with you guys?"

"Her room is down the hall and to the left" replied Beast Boy "We've left it un-touched"

_That'll do nicely_


	7. New Friend or Foe

Hi guys. Sorry for the delay, this chapter was originally going to be a lot longer but I decided to split it in two. But at least the next chapter is somewhere between half way and three quarters complete.

Thank you to my reviewers: Tira's Host, jalele, Randomgirl14, amythestpony, Forlorn Melody, Tac03e11hp and Meiriona. Your feedback has been quite helpful and is greatly appreciated.

"It sounds like a setup."

The hint of malice in Raven's usually calm voice wasn't hard to detect. She was the first one to say anything after Beast Boy's glowing rendition of Angela's fight with the H.I.V.E. team

"How can you say that?"

Beast Boy instinctively came to the defense of his new friend.

"Think about it. The FIVE of us have enough trouble dealing with them."

"She's that good!"

"She would be. We infiltrated the H.I.V.E. academy, what's to stop them trying to do the same to us? Why were they there in the first place? They would send one of their best, someone we don't know."

"True," Interjected Robin, trying to remain neutral and objective so he could evaluate all possibilities as accurately as possible. "Though they could also have just been stalking Beast Boy."

"It doesn't sound right." As if on cue, the Titan's resident H.I.V.E. expert spoke up. Having infiltrated and studied in the H.I.V.E. academy, only one other outsider could rival Cyborg's knowledge of the H.I.V.E. tactics. However Cyborg got far closer to Jinx than Bumble Bee ever had. "If they were going to pull a stunt like that, they'd do in front of all of us. It's personal for them. They'd take a hostage over a spy any day. Betrayal cuts deeper than any wound. They'd love to torture BB.."

"Dude!" The green teen clearly didn't like what he was hearing "I'm standing RIGHT HERE!"

"Sorry bro" Cyborg clearly didn't like talking about the subject. "I'm the one who got you into this mess. When I betrayed them, it cut them deep. It's no secret we're palls and they'd be looking to settle the score."

"Wile we're on the subject of BETREYAL…" The light flickered as Raven said the last word and turned menacingly toward Angela. "What's to say it doesn't run in the family?"

"Back off, Raven!" Beast Boy stepped in between Raven and Angela, gearing at the former. The look of pain and anger in his eyes would have frightened anyone else

"Friends please," Starfire desperately tried to stop the fight from escalating "It is un-just of us to blame our new friend for her sister's mistakes."

"What mistakes?" Angela's need to know the truth surpassed her anxiety. "What did Terra do? Did she loose control?"

Raven went in for the kill.

"She sided with a super villain, betrayed and nearly killed us."

"That's not possible." Defiance rang threw Angela's voice

"That's the truth."

"It can't be the whole truth. She could never just betray the Teen Titans. All our lives we dreamed about becoming superheroes. She idolized you guys, aspired to be like you guys and hoped one day to be good enough to join the Titans. You expect me to believe she threw away a life long dream just like that? I don't buy it. There's got to be more to it. She must have been manipulated or something"

Beast Boy opened his mouth to speak but couldn't bring himself to utter the words. He hadn't been able to bring himself to talk about the whole incident since his love turned to stone. Though Angela did a good job of hiding it, Beast Boy could tell that she was finding the whole experience very traumatic. This made Beast Boy feel even worse. Robin saw the expression of Pain and sorrow on his friends face and decided to step in. He had his own questions for Angela though it would be far more productive to save them for another time.

"She was manipulated alright."

"Not when she turned on us." Interjected Raven. "That was before she had the suit."

"Yes she was. I know Slade. He's a control freak and a sadist. He's too careful to work with anyone he can't control. He also likes it. That's half the reason he works with others and tries to recruit apprentices, so he can manipulate them into doing things thay'd never do. It makes him feel powerful. He'd prefer that to using a mind control suit but after the last time he'd be more cautious." Robin fought off the memory of the time Slade had made him shoot Starfire in cold blood and attack his friends. "Remember when Terra returned to us, she had those bruises that she said she got from the last time Starfire hugged her? They were more likely from Slade beating her."

Angela and Beast Boy both shuddered at the thought. Robin saw the horrified looks on their faces. _I'm not like Slade! I'm not a sadist!_

"The important thing…" Robin continued "Is that Terra fought it off in the end, and even fought off the mind control suit. She sacrificed herself to save us and the city from a volcano and she turned to stone."

The look on Angela and Beast Boy's faces changed subtly but Robin could tell they were both feeling infinitely better for hearing his last few words. A glare in Raven's direction was all it took from Robin to prevent her from saying that they wouldn't need saving if it wasn't for Terra.

The silence that followed was finally broken by Starfire

"Do you wish to see her room?"

"Yes please."

Angela followed the team in a daze, still struggling to digest what she'd just herd. A few miles away, lying in a patch of bushes with a telescope and a laser microphone, Andrew Hurst was taking the news rather differently. This wasn't the first time that Hurst had encountered this sort of thing. Hurst had spent the last two years of his life working with Web as mercenaries specializing in problems that the police couldn't or wouldn't solve for whatever reason. He'd dealt with pimps, drug lords and the ghost of his own past who'd all done similar things but each time it enraged him just as much. If anything it felt worse the more he saw such cases as the realization sunk in of how commonly innocent people fell victim to such ghastly tactics.

Angela had an idea that the tale of Terra's predicament would not be pleasant so she'd prepared herself as best she could for the bad news. Visiting the room Terra had lived in was not something Angela had anticipated or prepared for. Although the Titans had been the ones to decorate Terra's room, Terra had been the one to set it up. This is why the room was instantly familiar to Angela.

"It's set up exactly the same!"

"The same as what?" asked Robin.

"The same as the room we used to share, only her bed was over to the left a little and mine would be about there." Angela pointed to a spot about six feet (approximately two meters) to the right of Terra's bed. She turned to a spot on the wall to find it bare. "Where are the clippings?"

"What clippings?" asked Beast Boy

"We both kept posters and clippings from news papers and magazines about super heroes. Mostly you guys, even dating back to before the Titans were formed. This was her spot and my spot was over there. We worshiped you guys because you were newcomers to the game, not as tough of the rest but you still gave it your all anyway. You gave us hope, we wanted more than anything to be like you guys. Her favorite Titan was Beast Boy"

"Me!"

"She liked you because you were 'the cute one'. She liked you because you were different to the other super heroes. One of the few heroes with a since of humor."

The green teen tried to suppress the tears but couldn't stop the few that rolled from his eyes.

"Friend Angela, do you have a place to stay? You are welcome to say with us."

Starfire's friendly offer brought a smile to Angela's face. Her smile was so reminiscent of Terra's, a smile they all longed to see again, that all of the Titans knew they couldn't say no to her.

"You're sure, I don't want to Impose or anything…"

"We're sure." Replied Robin. "If you're as good as Beast Boy says you are…"

"She's better!"

Robin Glared at Beast Boy for his outburst.

"Then you might have a permanent place on the team."

"You really mean it!"

The Titans nodded in unison although Raven was somewhat hesitant. Angela burst into tears of joy.

"Thank you all so much!"

Cyborg flipped open a panel in his left arm revealing a keypad for a phone.

"This calls for a feast. What do y'all want on your pizzas?"


	8. That Can't be Good

Hi guys, this chapter's another glimpse (just a glimpse) into the past of Terra and her friends. Oh yeah, and a prelude to some big fights. Hope you like it.

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**Glossary:**

Pistolet Yarygina: The current (2003-) Russian police and military standard issue handgun. It looks suspiciously similar to the Browning Hi Power and is also quite mechanically similar. It fires a "hot loaded" version of the standard 9mm parabellum rounds from a 17 round clip.

MARPAT: New US Marine Corps camouflage pattern derived from the Canadian "digital cammo" pattern that uses a series of many squares, each of varying size and colour, to create a pixilation effect. At a glance, it doesn't look very effective, it and it's Canadian counterpart don't look very effective however the MARPAT cammo pattern was commissioned and created after studies revealed that it's Canadian counterpart was more effective than anything else.

Ka-Bar: Combat knife manufacturers that supply basically the entire US armed forces and several other armed forces. Their main feature is the black, non-reflective coating covering the entire blade except for the cutting edge.

Smith and Wesson Model 29: The original .44 Magnum Revolver. It's big, powerful and intimidating. Dirty Harry's weapon of choice. Still in production and widely regarded as a classic. A must have for collectors, devout Dirty Harry fans and people who need to compensate for their ridiculously undersized genitalia.

Cross-Draw holster: A hip holster worn on the opposite hip to the shooter's shooting hand that requires the shooter reach across their body with their shooting arm to grasp the gun. Well suited to guns with long barrels that would be too slow to draw from conventional hip or thy holsters.

Zulu: Photonic alphabet for the letter Z. Whilst most associate the photonic alphabet with the military, it is commonly is used over radio or other transitions to avoid confusion due to poor reception. Pilots and truckers in particular quite commonly use the photonic alphabet.

Spetsnaz: Russian elite special forces. The training course which Spetsnaz operators undergo is essentially torture even by Russia's laws which are farley lenient on the subject. However the particularly high quality of the soldiers that this training course produces is more than enough to make the authorities look the other way. Spetsnaz soldiers are some of the toughest and best trained killers in the world. Consequently they are particularly sought after for mercenary work. They are up there with the likes of Delta Force (the most elite US special forces unit, their existence ahs never been officially acknowledged), the SAS (the original and arguably the best special forces unit), the SASR (Australian sister unit to the SAS) and the Sayeret Matkal (Israel's most elite special forces unit, responsible for some of the most crazy yet brilliant operations the world has ever seen including the Entebbe rescue)

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In a dark room somewhere, Jinx, Mammoth and Gizmo neat before several seated figures wearing purple H.I.V.E. robes. The room was only lit by a projector screen showing footage recorded from Gismo's shoulder camera. The three adolescents knew that failing to kidnap their target when they had him trapped and out numbered 3-1 would lead their superiors to question their usefulness. They also knew that H.I.V.E. members who had ceased to be useful were disposed of. Naturally they were shaking with fear.

The voice belonging ing to the first of these robed and hooded people was that of an old man

"This is an outrage! Your mounting failures against the Teen Titans have not only cost the H.I.V.E. many precious resources, but you're actions have repeatedly humiliated us. It's time we made an examp…"

The robed and hooded figure was silenced by another identically clad figure raising his hand.

"Let us not be too hasty, brothers and sisters." The voice was that of a British male. His speech was eloquent and well annunciated. "These three are some of our most treasured instruments. I do not deny that they have failed us. But against the Titans, none who still live have performed better. Even with vastly superior resources, Brother Blood fell against them, now a mere shadow of his former self incarcerated in Steel City Prison."

"Slade…"

"Slade is most likely dead. The circumstances of his last bout with the Titans would quite plausibly leave no remains. "

A third robed figure spoke, this one had a rough edged, business like, female voice.

"Tell me brother; you of all people are not one to show mercy without reason. Enlighten us"

"Pay attention."

The robed figure pressed a few buttons causing the footage to re wind to the point Angela was standing next to Terra's rocky form, then zoomed till they filled the screen.

"Though Brother Blood's academies for the gifted have been lost, they have not been our only sources for recruiting and training gifted individuals. There are various training facilities into which we arranged for a particularly gifted student to be planted. This was done to evaluate the facility and its potential usefulness. If such a facility was found to be useful we would infiltrate its ranks, sway its teaching and recruit the products and use them to do our bidding. Several terrorist training camps around the world were taken over this way to recruit and train the H.I.V.E. soldiers used to protect our facilities. These two, I believe, may come from a particular US government research and development facility. Fortunately, I have instructed two of our operatives involved in that operation to wait outside. Given the nature of this hearing I thought it convenient to have replacements and executioners on hand. If the council has no objections, I will summon them"

The room was silent save for a soft moan from Jinx. The teenager clearly did not want to die.

"Very well. Cain! Yuri! Enter!"

A large man wearing the uniform of a H.I.V.E. soldier and a fifteen year old boy entered. Like all H.I.V.E. soldiers, this one's uniform was designed to hide his features making him look inhuman and intimidating. The only thing unusual about him was that instead of the standard issue H.I.V.E. laser pistol, he wore a Pistolet Yarygina in a tactical hip holster.

The boy had very pale blond curly hair and piercing bright fluorescent green eyes. He was a little taller than Jinx (not including her hair) though instead of her slender figure, he possessed a substantially boarder and more muscular one. He wore black combat boots, woodland MARPAT camo pants, an olive green T shirt, a sheathed US military spec Ka-Bar bayonet and a Smith and Wesson Model 29 with a blued finish and a molded, rubberized grip in a black cross-draw holster. Were it not for his attire and weaponry, he could have passed as a choir boy.

"Cain. Approach me and surrender your weapons"

The boy, apparently known as Cain, strode forward to the robed figure and handed over the large revolver and the combat knife. The robed figure carefully examined the revolver before taking hold of it and flicking out the cylinder. After checking the chambers to find six .44 magnum rounds, he flicked the cylinder back into place.

"This is a very nice gun."

"Thank you sir."

"Cain, look at the two figures in this image. Can you identify them?"

The boy stared at the screen for a second, clearly concerned.

"The stone figure appears to be a highly faithful representation of the geomancer test subject Teresa, better known as Terra. However it is quite possible that the statue is actually her, the geomancers were known to turn to stone when they over exerted themselves. The semi-transparent one is almost definitely the only known successful optical camouflage subject, Angela."

"You are apparently troubled by this image. Tell the council why."

"This image raises questions about our operation with Facility Zulu. Terra was deployed three months before we hit the facility, but why is 'she' wearing a prototype neural interface suit with Slade's markings all over it when Web supposedly destroyed them all? Also, if the facility and its occupants were all eliminated, why is Angela still alive? Most concerning of all, why am I unarmed when the person who was handling both of these aspects of the operation is still armed and standing approximately five meters behind me?"

"Why indeed? Yuri, this is your chance to explain yourself. Chose your words carefully, or they may be your last."

The large man in the H.I.V.E. soldier's uniform spoke with a heavy Russian accent. His voice and body language betrayed no hint of fear.

"The failure was not on my end but that of our under cover operatives. They failed in their mission of keeping Dr Hurst from talking, consequently he alerted Web who left for Steel City, destroyed our production facility and eliminated all the other scientists on the project team while my men and I were in transit for our mission to take Facility Zulu. As for the invisible girl, we were not informed we had to be dealing with any invisible targets."

"Yuri, how long were you a member of the Spetsnaz before you came to work for us?"

"Five years."

"What rank did you hold?"

"Sergeant Major."

"That would make you a squad leader. And I don't doubt that the Russians taught you how to deal with subordinates who became traitors?"

"If you implying that…"

"I am implying nothing, the facts speak for themselves. The neural interface suits were supposedly all destroyed, yet you were guarding our production facility and one of them mysteriously turns up with Slade's markings on it. Apparently you thought we wouldn't notice the electronic transfer of five million dollars to your account from one which Slade used to launder money and fund his activities. "

"But I…"

"Cain. Dispose of this traitor."

Yuri wasted know time drawing and firing his Yarygina. The round struck Cain in his left shoulder though Cain kept coming. Before Yuri could get a second shot off, Cain had disarmed him, despite the wound in Cain's shoulder still oozing blood.

Jinx, Mamoth and Gizmo rose to assist Cain but were ordered to remain still.

As their duel turned into a hand to hand death match, Yuri called on all the skills of his Spetsnaz training. Even though Cain put up a good fight, Yuri was clearly the faster, stronger and more skilled opponent, landing several blows that should have killed Cain but the boy just didn't die. Cain eventually got a break, getting a clean blow to Yuri's throat. As Yuri gagged, Cain continued to pound Yuri's throat, crushing his trachea causing him to choke to death. After the large man stopped writhing in pain and went limp, Cain reached down for Yuri's throat and checked for a pulse.

"Kill confirmed."

Cain had won but he was a mess. His face was bruised and bleeding, his nose was at an angle, clearly broken and his shirt was soaked in blood. With his right hand, Cain clicked his broken nose back into position before removing his shirt and using the dry parts to wipe the blood off his face.

"Well done Cain. Retrieve your weapons"

Cain approached the robed figure, holstered the revolver and grasped his bayonet. Instead of holstering the knife, he dug jabbed the black blade into his shoulder and dug around it for a moment until the sound of a bullet bouncing on the floor could be heard.

"Must you do that in here?"

"My humble apologies, Council."

Cain used the remains of his shirt to wipe the blade of his bayonet and then the wound in his shoulder. He turned to the three other teenagers in the room, Ka-Bar still unsheathed and a slight glow coming from the blade's edge, the only part not covered in the black coating. His faced had completely healed and the three horrified teenagers could see the flesh and skin of his shoulder growing back before their eyes.

"That will no longer be necessary, Cain. This footage changes our priorities. For bringing us this footage, you three have earned a chance to redeem yourselves. I am placing you at Cain's disposal."

Cain sheathed the knife and turned to face the robed figures.

"What should I have them do?"

"You were indeed right about the statue being the geomancer test subject, Teresa, turned to stone. We know of this condition and we know that there was a treatment with a small success rate. In this case, the survival of the patient is in-consequential as long as the neural interface suit she's wearing survives. Your primary objective is its recovery. Your secondary objective is the elimination of the optical camouflage subject, Angela. She knows too much to risk letting her live. Your targets of opportunity are the Teen Titans. They must be made to pay for the damage they have done to the H.I.V.E. and for the shame that came with it."


	9. Scars of the Past

Hi guys. This chapter was inspired by the fic Dream Hopping, written by Randomgirl14. Though it is not necessary to have read this fic to understand or enjoy this chapter, I would strongly advise you do so along with the rest of her fics, they are some of the better ones out there.

I'm sorry about the delay getting this chapter up. I had some trouble with a Virus. It was just quicker and easier to re-format the computer and re-install everything.

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**Glossary**

Tactical Flashlight: A particularly bright torch that's attached to the barrel of the gun which is used both for illumination and to dazzle the people you're aiming at, reducing their ability to accurately shoot back at you.

Colt M16A3: The third revision of the M16 assault rifle.. US army versions feature a three round burst setting instead of full auto fire to conserve ammo. The A3 was the first M16 variant to replace the fixed carry handle sight with a removable one mounted on a Picatinny accessory rail, allowing the carry handle sight to be replaced with a wide variety of scopes, reflexive 'red dot' sights and other accessories. Though no longer in production (replaced by the M16A4) still a fine weapon with many still in service with US and numerous other armed forces. Unfortunately the M16A3 is still burdened with the bad reputation earned by the original problematic M16s in the Vietnam War. Several improvements have been made since well before the A3's introduction so with proper cleaning and maintenance it's quite a reliable weapon.

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Raven watched the rain drops role down her bedroom window. Having Angela around felt like having Terra's ghost around. Raven knew she'd been harsh on Angela and all of the other Titans had told her to back off in one way or another.

For the Angela and rest of the Titans, dinner had been pleasant. Raven on the other hand had been concentrating on getting answers from Angela. Robin did the same thing, but to a far lesser extent, merely casually probing as his nature caused him to do with all people. What puzzled Raven was that Angela telepathically radiated fear and paranoia. At various times during the conversations, when a question about her past was asked, Raven felt the fear and anxiety flare up in Angela. Angela did an amicable job masking it and Raven wouldn't have been surprised if her comrades didn't notice it at all. It felt like Angela was hiding something with every fiber of her being, maybe even trying to hide it from herself. This bothered Raven. She could be attempting to infiltrate the Titans or maybe she was just trying to burry some traumatic memories. In some of the brief flashes of Angela's memories that Raven could read she saw Terra at various different ages so at least part of her story was true. Raven had shared her concerns with Robin who promised he'd be on his guard. That did little to comfort Raven as there was a potential saboteur with the power of invisibility sleeping in Terra's old room.

Despite being uneasy about the situation, Raven knew she had to get some sleep. She threw her cloak over her dressing table, climbed into bed and forced herself to sleep.

After what felt like a few minutes, Raven was woken by four soft thuds. She reached threw the pitch black darkness and felt around her bed side table for the switch to her lamp. As her eyes adjusted to the light, it became apparent to Raven that this wasn't even her room. The arm that she'd reached out to turn on the lamp wasn't even her arm. Raven would **NEVER** wear pink pajamas. Raven tried to look down at the rest of 'herself' but had no control what so ever, as the head turned to the right to examine an empty bed about six feet (around 2 meters) away. Raven noticed the wall behind the empty second bed was covered in posters of superheroes, a lot were early posters of the Teen Titans and quite a few were of Beast Boy before he joined the Titans, in fact most of the posters had Beast Boy in them. It was rapidly becoming apparent that this was the same room Angela had described as the one she shared with Terra

_I must be dream hopping again_ thought Raven. This wasn't the first time Raven's powers had done weird things when she was asleep. Dream hopping was one of the relatively more common things that happened though she had once blown out all the windows in the tower when she had a nightmare. There had been times when Raven was actively involved in another Titan's dream but on other occasions, such as this one, Raven found herself seeing the dream or nightmare as its owner saw it. After learning some of the more intricate details of Robin's dreams about Starfire, and that Starfire's dreams about Robin were uncannily similar, Raven learnt the hard way that there were things about her team mates which she **DID NOT** want to know, consequently she taught herself to wake up at will. However this time curiosity got the better of Raven as she hoped to gain an insight into their visitor's mind.

Another four soft thuds, this time distinctly louder, were enough to prompt Angela to get out of bed and pull on a dressing gown. Her reflection was visible in a mirror for a split second revealing a much younger version of the girl Raven met earlier that day.

_She must've been about eleven which means this memory's from around two years ago, _thought Raven.

Angela walked towards the door when it opened, revealing two gunmen, she couldn't make out their features or weapons because she was dazzled by the tactical flashlights attached beneath the barrels of their rifles. Raven felt Angela's inability to move due to sheer fear as the two gunmen raised their rifles to shot her.

"Contact front!"

The two riflemen were cut down by multiple three round bursts. Angela was so scared she couldn't scream, she couldn't run she couldn't even shield her eyes from the gruesome sight before her.

Four soldiers in US Army uniforms entered each wielded a Colt M16A3. One of them approached Angela and placed his right hand on Angela's left shoulder.

"Angie, you ok?. It's alright, we're going to get threw this now you just stick close to us and we…"

"**GRENADE!**"

The soldier dived forward, knocking Angela to the ground and shielding her with his own body. A moment later the room was rocked by the grenade's explosion. It took Angela a few seconds to get her bearings and realize that the soldier on top of her wasn't moving.

Raven didn't wand to see any more and knew that Angela didn't either. She forced herself to wake up. After taking a moment to get her head together, Raven climbed out of bead and walked to the door, calling he cloak to her with her powers. It didn't take Raven long to reach Terra's old room. A wave of her hand as she approached was all it took for the door to be surrounded by black energy and slide open.

Angela's moans of terror could be clearly herd bout Raven couldn't see her or the bed. She closed her eyes and reached out with her mind, searching for Angela's presence. Raven approached the spot where the bed should be, extended her arm and opened her hand.

"Azerath Metrion Zinthos!"

Angela gasped as she suddenly regained consciousness. The blond girl and part of the bed were now visible though Angela was hyperventilating, still in shock until she realized where she was.


	10. Truth and Tea

Hi all.

I'm not dead (though people have tried) and neither is the fic. A few things on my plate kept me out of action for a while but I'm back.

I know this one's a tad short but consider it a warm up.

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"Drink this."

With a nod of acceptance, Angela took the cup of tea from Raven. The slight tremor in her hand caused her to spill a little onto the couch.

The blond girl hadn't spoken a word since Raven woke her from her nightmare and walked her down the corridor to the team room. Raven didn't blame her. After witnessing Angela's horrific nightmare, Raven didn't feel too good herself. After pouring a second cup for herself, Raven noticed that Angela hadn't touched her tea.

"It's herbal tea. It helps calm the nerves and focus the mind."

Raven took a sip so Angela could see it was safe to drink and put on one of her more friendly expressions. Angela still sat on the couch quivering in silence.

"I owe you an apology. I've been un-necessarily harsh to you since you walked in the door. It also wasn't my right to invade the sanctity of your mind."

"You had every right" whispered Angela. She sounded like a scared little schoolgirl trying to explain to her teacher why she hadn't done her homework. "After what Terra did to you, I'd hate me to."

"I don't hate you." Responded Haven in her usual monotone "Nor do I hate Terra. What I hate are the memories of a friend being manipulated to turn on us and try to kill us against her will. Seeing the fear in her eyes as she said 'I have to stay' knowing she'd turn to stone. Watching her crying helplessly as Slade used her body as a puppet to kill her love."

A single tear rolled down Raven's cheek as the lights flickered.

"Her love?"

"Need you ask?"

Angela thought for a moment.

"Beast Boy?"

"I never believed in people being made for each other until I saw those two together. Beast Boy is like a brother to me and Terra was such a good friend. When Terra turned it almost destroyed him. I jumped to collusions before knowing all the facts and I hated Terra. After the whole thing was over I learned the truth. I never got a chance to apologize. But do you know what the worst thing is?"

"No"

"I couldn't save her."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because such pain is inevitable if you choose the path of a hero. It would be a poor way to repay an old friend if I didn't ensure her sister knew what she was getting into. But you know this pain better than most, don't you?"

Angela shuddered. It was obvious she was fighting back tears. She whispered the name:

"Lance Corporal Robert Hutchison."

"The soldier who shielded you?"

All Angela could do was nod.

There were several questions Raven wanted to ask, but having felt the girl's pain, she couldn't bring herself to do so.

"You need some sleep. I can prevent you from dreaming if you wish."

Angela nodded

"Can you just make me forget the whole thing?"

"Meddling with another's mind is dangerous. I lack the skill to do so safely. But I can help you come to terms with it."

The blond girl's eyes filled with hope.

"Really?"

"If you'll stay around for a while."

Angela embraced Raven with enough strength to rival Starfire.

"THANKYOU!"

After a moment, Raven gently returned the embrace.

A few miles away, Andrew Hurst began packing away his telescope and laser microphone. Now confident that Angela would be looked after, he could get some sleep.


	11. The newest Titan

Hi guys. I'm still here battling away. This chapter didn't even take me a month.

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It wasn't that unusual that Beast Boy was up early, often he was woken by the alarm when a villain chose to strike in the early hours of the mourning. However, this mourning was one of the very few occasions the changing woke early of his own free will. This decision was motivated by Beast Boy's desire to keep Angela around. To do this, the green teen thought it best to counter Raven's hostilities with some friendly gestures. What better way to make someone feel welcome than make them breakfast.

"You're up early."

Beast Boy nearly jumped threw the roof, only to turn and find a half dead Robin, staggering out of the gym after an early mourning workout.

"Dude, do you ever sleep in?"

"Not really."

"So would you be able to help me make breakfast?"

The Boy wonder's body may have been worn out, but his mind was still sharp as ever.

"Sure. You really wand her to stay, don't you?"

"Can she?"

They stepped threw the doors to the Team room and its adjoining kitchen

"My concern is whether she and Raven would be able to work together, or at least it was."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Robin pointed to the sofa, where Angela and Raven both slept silently.

"Keep it down. We don't want to wake them."

"It's too late for that."

Both boys jumped when they herd the familiar monotone with a hint of malice. Though Raven supposedly was completely devoid of all emotions, including anger, the rest of the titans knew that wasn't true. More to the point, Beast Boy once found out the hard way that it could be dangerous to wake Raven early.

Robin's survival instincts kicked in but the same couldn't be said for his fearlessness.

"Um, ah, Raven, would you like some breakfast or, herbal tea."

"Why not. I'll have my usual."

Raven had been awake for a few minutes but saw no reason not to take advantage of Robin's new found 'generosity'. It was only when the two boys franticly scurried to work preparing her breakfast that it occurred to Raven that their current psychological state would be well suited to her agenda.

"One more thing; If Angela doesn't want to answer any questions about her past, you forget about it. Understand?"

This perplexed the Boy Wonder.

"But didn't you say…"

"Trust is no longer an issue."

"Why the sudden turn around."

"I've seen inside her mind. It's important that you don't dig too deep into her past. We also need to arrange another room for her, one that's very different to Terra's."

"But why?"

"Don't ask, just trust me. And make sure the others understand as well."

Robin decided to humor her, at least for now. Though he made a mental note to re-visit the subject with Raven at a time when she would be less prone to violence

"Ok. You must have your reasons."

About a minute later, Angela stirred then woke to bee greeted by an un-characteristically pleasant Raven.

"Good mourning. Sleep any better?"

"Much better. This is a very comfortable sofa."

"The boys have graciously offered to make us both breakfast" She turned to face Robin and Beast Boy, the hint of malice returned to her voice and her eyes flashed red. "ISN'T THAT RIGHT?"

The whole Trigon mess finished a while ago, but neither Robin nor Beast Boy were willing to take the risk.

After a relaxed start to the day and consuming almost the entire tower's remaining food for breakfast, Angela proceeded to astonish the entire team in the training room. Even Beast Boy, who'd already seen what Angela could do, couldn't help but be astounded by her performance against the training robots.

Despite being outnumbered ten to one, Angela made the fight look effortless. Using a variety of scare tactics, whereby Angela would briefly appear and disappear, she broke up their formations, scattered the robots and as the opportunities presented themselves she viciously and decisively picked off the robot that strayed into the most vulnerable position.

Angela fought well, defeated all the robots and prepared herself for every possible response but the one she got. For as long as she could remember the thirteen year old girl had dreamed of meeting the Teen Titans and possibly one day being like them. But never in her wildest dreams did she imagine that they'd be giving her a standing ovation.

"You guys… really think I'm… that good?" asked the sweat drenched girl.

"Your performance was most wondrous!" shouted Starfire as she embraced Angela with such force that Angela though her ribs were about to crack.

As Starfire released Angela, Robin steeped forward, right arm outstretched left arm reaching into a pouch un his belt

_Could it be?_ thought Angela as her heart rate tripled

"Angela, Welcome to the Team." He removed a communicator from the pouch and shook her hand "Congratulations"

The others broke into another round of applause. Raven even adjusted her hood to conceal her larger than normal smirk.

Angela didn't know what to say. All she could do was stand there and hope that this all wasn't a dream. Cyborg eventually broke the science after handing her a towel and a bottle of Power Aid

"Here. Drink this before you pass out. You must have lost a good few pounds of sweat."

Without a moment's hesitation, Angela ripped the lid off and skulled the entire bottle in two seconds flat before responding.

"That's how my power works. I sweat a different sort of sweat that bends light. That's how my cloths disappear with me."

"So is that why you're always wearing Farley thin cloths?" asked Robin

"Not quite. It get's pretty hot when I'm invisible, which is weird because everybody always tells me I'm so cold to touch when I'm invisible."

Robin's left eyebrow rose

"What is it?"

"Nothing. Ok for the next few days we'll…"

Robin was cut off by the alarm. He instinctively flicked open his communicator, looked at the screen for a few seconds before his face broke into a big grin.

"Ready to take down your first bad guy?"


End file.
